Mi ĵus pasigis tre agrablan semajnfinon kun Babel Li devis labori sabaton matene, do mi vojaĝis trajne al Leicester por renkonti lin je la tria. Feliĉe la trajnoj ja funkciis ĉi-semajne, kaj la vojaĝo pasis sufiĉe bone, kvankam ĝenis min kiom da homoj enestis la trajnon. Jaŭdon mi legis en la loka ĵurnalo, kiom da mono oni malŝparos por konstrui novan stacidomon en Birmingham. Aŭ, almenaŭ, rekonstrui tiun, kiu jam ekzistas. Laŭ mi estas stultaĵo; la stacidomo ne estas bela konstruaĵo, sed ĉu tiu estas la plej grava fervoja problemo nuntempe?! Laŭ mi certe ne. Estus pli bone se oni uzus la monon por aĉeti novajn vagonojn kaj eble tiam mi ne devus pagi £15 kontraŭ bileton kaj tamen stari dum horo. (more…)

The last post is unfair because it makes it sound like I haven’t had a wonderful day, and I have I hadn’t been entirely sure what I wanted to do with my day off, but the question had been settled by the fact that my boyfriend had to work in the evening so it made most sense to go to Leicester. I arrived just before ten and spent a few minutes wandering around in the sunshine before my boyfriend arrived. It was such a bright, sunny day that even the urban horror of Leicester managed to look quite attractive, and I was starting to feel quite excited about a text my boyfriend had sent me which mentioned going to a park and seeing deer We met up and went for a coffee, or more precisely one of those iced coffee milkshakey things which I am rather addicted to, and splashed out to the extent of sharing a rather delicious chocolate cookie. (more…)

Right now I would happily commit murder.

For the past THREE weekends in a row Network Rail have seen fit to carry out engineering works on the line between Birmingham and Leicester. Now I appreciate that engineering works occasionally have to be done, but this is at least the third or fourth time they have cancelled a couple of week’s worth of trains in the last six months.

They do, of course, provide rail replacement buses instead. And don’t we all love a good rail replacement bus! (more…)

I have spent this week staying in the Travelodge at Leicester. There is no particular reason why I am doing such a random thing, except that I have the profound misfortune to be dating somebody who comes from Leicester. I thought it would be nice for us to spend some time together, since we didn’t have much chance before Christmas, and I managed to get a room in the Travelodge for £30 a night.

I am not a snob when it comes to hotels, but my feelings about Travelodges are mixed. I love Premier Travel Inns, and would happily stay in one any time, anywhere; their breakfast is of the highest quality and their rooms are always clean and comfortable. Travelodges, on the other hand, seem considerably more basic although they aren’t always considerably cheaper, and so many little niceties like soap in the bathroom are missing. The first time I ever stayed in one I was most put out to discover it didn’t serve breakfast and that instead my £5 a day would earn me a brown paper bag placed outside my room each morning, with a dubious looking apple and a yoghurt pot of cornflakes (more…)